Daydream Believer
by xt1me
Summary: After a boring job, Ariadne, Arthur and Eames talk about other bad jobs.  This came about because I was thinking about what other people would use the dream-share technology for. Then I though 'I can make this into a fic.' so I did.


Ariadne, Arthur and Eames were sitting at a bar in an airport. They had just successfully finished an extraction, had gotten away clean and were waiting for their flights (separate ones of course, you can never be too careful). So there really was no reason for them to be looking so miserable.

"How" Ariadne exclaimed in disgust, her head resting on the bar top, "can a job be so simple and yet so frustrating?"

Arthur just grunted as he gripped his glass. He always prefer when a job went smoothly, but even _he_ had caught himself thinking that the threat of limbo would have been more interesting then this job.

Eames, sitting on the other side of Arthur, just downed the last of his drink. "That man has _got_ to have been the mostboring man on the planet." He gave Arthur a look, which was ignored as Ariadne sniggered. "No, definitely the most boring man on the planet." He waved the bartender for another drink "Uh! Why did I agree to do this job. _Anything_ would've been better then _that_."

"Anything?" Arthur's voice was mild. Eames turned to him suspiciously. "Because I have a line on a Daydreamer if you feel like babysitting."

"Uh!" Eames just turned back to his new drink and took a large gulp in disgust.

"Daydreamer?" Ariadne asked, sitting up curiously.

"Daydreamers…Well," Eames rolled his eyes as Arthur settled back as if to deliver a lecture.

"As you know, the PASIV was developed by the military. It didn't take long for them to discover that any improvement gained from spending your dreams killing each other was negligible, and came with physiological problems besides, so the technology found other uses. Some agencies _do _have departments dealing with dream-sharing, I know sometimes law enforcement uses it even though it's not admissible in court, so we're about as respected as psychics, and it's even used occasionally in therapy. But the only way to make any money with it is to do what we do or, and I'm using the term loosely, for entertainment. On the lower end you've got places like Yusuf's dream-den, while on the higher end-"

"Daydreamer's are rich brats with too much time on their hands." Eames said, annoyed that Arthur was taking so long to explain. Arthur ignored the interruption.

"Daydreamers are people who want custom dreams and can afford to go through the less than legal channels to get the best."

"That doesn't sound that bad." Ariadne said, puzzled, "I know I'd do that if had known about it. And could afford it."

"Yeah, but you're sensible." Eames explained, "Daydreamers tend to combine all the worst traits of Tourists with the attitude that because they're paying you they own you."

Ariadne still looked confused so Arthur elaborated. "Usually Tourists aren't like Saito. They tend not to come to any of the planning meetings, or they just don't listen. They don't know what they're doing so in a dream they panic or, again, just don't listen."

"Or, since they've had no training, they don't remember the job and insist it wasn't done and refuse to pay you."

Arthur turned to Eames, sympathetic, "I heard about that. McManus right?"

"Mc-bloody-Manus." Eames confirmed and then trailed off to grumble some more into his drink.

"The point is," Arthur continued, "while Tourists are annoying they're at least focused on the same goal. It's in their best interests to complete the job so the damage they do is generally manageable. Daydreamers are worse. They have no idea what they're doing. They think dreaming is just like waving a magic wand. They also tend to be unreasonable about things like being torn apart by projections. Never mind that you warned them about the consequences of messing about too much, or that you had to spend almost an hour straight fighting _you're own_ projections to prevent their very messy, if completely deserved, death. And then have the gall to claim it was such a traumatic experience that I should pay_ them_ compensation just because the little-"

He stopped, suddenly aware that he was ranting. He coughed and took a sip of his drink, ignoring the stares of the other two. "It was on my first job with a Daydreamer. It was. Frustrating."

Ariadne hid her smile behind her own drink. "Surely they're not all that bad?"

"Not really. My next one just wanted to be in the Star Wars movies. That one was easy. You should ask Eames for some stories though. Forgers are always sought after for those kinds of things."

"Yes, yes. And for some reason whenever you tell someone you can look like anyone, their minds go straight to the gutter." Arthur raised his eyebrow but was interrupted before he could say anything. "Oh ha ha. Do be quiet, darling."

"Wait," Ariadne said shocked, "you don't-"

"Oh no, never fear. If the client wants something like that, it's pretty easy to convince a projection to do it. It's the clients mind anyway so you don't have find out the details if you don't want to. Although, to be honest, they generally aren't nearly as imaginative as they think they are. I've always thought of it as a waste, spending all that money for what's basically a wet dream. Money in the bank though."

He drained the last of his drink "No, the main problem with Daydreamers is the fact that since they already know it a dream, their projections get violent a lot quicker. The fact that they tend to want something fantastical makes it worst. If you don't know what you're doing you can get found out almost immediately. The fact that they _want_ the dream gives you some leeway but you have to be careful. Couple that with the attitude problems you generally get and, well?" he shrugged "It's" he looked at Arthur, "frustrating."

"So basically, I should stay way from Daydreamers." Ariadne nodded.

"Not necessarily." Arthur said slowly. "They're not always that bad. And they're good for some easy, legal, cash, if you need it. You do sometimes get some interesting challenges and one or two people in the business got their start by being introduced to it as a Daydreamer."

"Plus," Eames added grinning, "you can't really say you're a proper Dream Sharer until you have a terrible Daydreamer experience to complain about." He started to needle Arthur. "Go on. Give her the details for that job you lined up. We can't be lacking in her education now can we."

Ariadne laughed as Arthur started to bicker back. They certainly were worse ways to end a job.


End file.
